Category: Americana

July has seen a quick succession of standalone EP’s released by women in Nashville; Caitlyn Smith, Molly Parden and Joy Williams. The story and words are the prime focus of these artists who refuse to stick to one “type” of music and who bend genres, and at times reimagine them, all in service of the story. The first of…

Lori McKenna, artist, musician and songwriter of melancholy. If you’ve heard a song that’s beautifully understated and introspective but has you weeping into your tea by the last chorus, then Lori McKenna is mostly likely behind it. Think Mandy Moore’s ‘Everblue‘ and Ashley Monroe’s ‘The Morning After‘ This month, McKenna released ‘Wreck You’ the first single…

Social media is a funny thing; it creates a warped yet seemingly perfect image of public figures, and one that seems completely accurate but is in fact so far from the truth it’s almost laughable. Laughable in that you think ‘X’ is really like his 140 character updates, or rather that’s all he is. So…

As a labour of love producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Anderson East, Chris Stapleton) decided to create a concept album that best represented the South; their South not the Hollywood version, and asked his collaborators, which include Isbell, Stapleton and East as well as John Paul White of The Civil Wars, Miranda Lambert and Shooter…

I am not one for ranking art; whether that be books, films, paintings or music. How can you measure one great novel against another, or a beautiful piece of music against another piece of equally good music? You can’t. It’s an impossibility and quite frankly, demeaning to the art you’re measuring. Firstly, who am I…

“Letters to Ghosts” is Lucie Silvas’ first album in nearly ten years after having released “Breathe In” in 2004 and “The Same Side” in 2006. The album was recorded in Nashville with a tight knit group of friends, and produced by Silvas, John Osborne (Brothers Osborne) and Ian Fitchuk, and is released on September 18th on Lucie’s…

Over the weekend Joy Williams dropped two new or partially new songs; both acoustic in nature. ‘Before I Sleep’ the opening track off her recently released album, ‘Venus’, and a brand new song that didn’t make the album, ‘We Can Never Go Back’. Unlike her album, both these songs are devoid of any EDM influence…

Of her collaboration with Jack White on his song “Love Interruption”, Ruby Amanfu says, “It was unexpected and key in shaping me”. White’s presence can be felt all over her new album “Standing Still” (Thirty Tigers/Rival & Co.), with his signature Southern gothic blues/rock as the skeleton to which all the other musical elements cling to, particularly on the tracks “Out…

Lindi Ortega, Toronto born and Nashville based singer-songwriter, has been in the music business for over a decade. With four albums under her belt, she has now released her fifth, “Faded Gloryville,” to much critical acclaim. The album was inspired by the film Crazy Heart, an unflinching look at a singer on the descent from stardom…

“Letters to Ghosts” is Lucie Silvas’ first album in nearly ten years after having released “Breathe In” in 2004 to critical and commercial acclaim and “The Same Side” in 2006, as well as having written for a number of well-known musicians in the UK. “Letters to Ghost”, due out 18th September, was recorded in Nashville…

Lindi Ortega’s new album, ‘Faded Gloryville’, is due out on August 7th. Produced by Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Anderson East), Colin Linden (who produced her album Cigarettes & Truckstops) and the Muscle Shoals based producing team John Paul White (formerly The Civil Wars) and Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes). The album, inspired by the film…

‘The Dying Kind’ is perhaps the oddest song on ‘VENUS’, Joy Williams’ new album. On the one hand it fits perfectly with Joy’s description of wanting the album “to sound like I’d built a log cabin on Venus.” but on the other, it feels somewhat out of place with the rest of the tracks; moving away…